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February’s Youth Ministry Initiative Lecture

February 9, 2015

Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel was the speaker of this month’s Youth Ministry Initiative Lecture. Dr. Daniel is Senior Minister of First Congregational Church of Glen Ellyn and author of When Spiritual But Not Religious Is Not Enough: Seeing God In Surprising Places, Even the Church.

Her lecture was titled Rigorous, Reasonable, and Real: Youth Ministry

With the rise of the “nones” and the “spiritual but not religious,” it often seems that the church is answering questions no one is asking. Many churches are still defining themselves in terms of what they are not (“We’re not like those other Christians who….”) in a world where people don’t know or care who those “other Christians” are. In an age of individualism and personal choice, how do we do youth ministry in community, within a tradition older and larger than ourselves? How do we make a claim for religious community that is respectful of other paths but compelling enough to warrant a young person’s time and attention?